June 2, 2023 2:35 am
The Washington County Chamber of Commerce presented a “Federal Funding Roundtable for Advanced Manufacturing” meeting on Thursday. Participants at the event were the Catalyst Connection, a company that can guide manufacturers to access funding from the recent Inflation Reduction Act, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Chips and Science Act among others. They can also connect manufacturers with other funding sources and job training resources. Petra Mitchell, President and CEO of Catalyst Connection stated that manufacturing jobs can lift a family from poverty and provide a life sustaining income. She and Matt Thiel, President of AUMA Actuators said that they are seeing fruits of those federal funding acts begin to flourish. Thiel says that large companies are beginning to work on projects and as part of their supply chain local manufacturers are looking to hire and invest in new technology. John Goberish is the Dean of the School of Industrial Technology and Continuing Education at the Community College of Beaver County. He says courses in automation and process technology are growing. They will be opening Washington County classrooms in Peters Township at the former middle school now occupied by the Intermediate Unit One. Amy Gatts, Director of the Southwest Corner Workforce Development Board is the major funding source for any business looking for funding to help fill vacant employee positions. Her board can help businesses fund training for any company. Most recently, automation jobs have been very popular. The key point that was driven is that the funding is there to help manufacturers overcome some of the financial barriers to employment and equipment upgrades.
June 2, 2023 1:47 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s former two-term auditor general says he’s running for state attorney general in the 2024 election. Eugene DePasquale’s Thursday announcement makes him the first to announce his candidacy for the office. He’s unlikely to be the only Democrat to seek the party’s nomination. The 51-year-old DePasquale won two statewide elections for auditor general and served as Pennsylvania’s independently elected fiscal watchdog from 2013 through 2020. He made an unsuccessful run for Congress in 2020 in a Republican-leaning district that included Harrisburg and DePasquale’s hometown of York. He also served three terms in the state House of Representatives. (Photo: AP)
June 1, 2023 5:51 pm
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — President Joe Biden fell on stage at the U.S. Air Force Academy graduation on Thursday. The White House says Biden is “fine” after he tripped over a sandbag. Biden had been greeting the graduates in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the front of the stage with salutes and handshakes. Biden turned to jog back toward his seat when he fell. He was helped up by an Air Force officer as well as two members of his U.S. Secret Service detail. He then returned to his seat to view the end of the ceremony. White House communications director Ben LaBolt later tweeted, “He’s fine.” Two small black sandbags were on stage supporting the teleprompter used by Biden and other speakers.
June 1, 2023 5:25 pm
(AP) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to use versions of the popular weight-loss drug used in Ozempic and Wegovy and sold online because they might not contain the same ingredients as prescription products and may not be safe or effective. Agency officials said this week that they have received reports of problems after patients used versions of semaglutide, the active ingredient in the brand-name medications, which have been compounded or mixed in pharmacies. Consumers should only use semaglutide prescribed by a health are provider and filled by a licensed pharmacy, FDA said.
June 1, 2023 5:04 am
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Central Florida is about to become a hub of LGBTQ+ life. That’s because tens of thousands of people are flocking to the area’s theme parks and hotels this week to go on thrill rides, dance at all-night parties and lounge poolside at hotels during the decades-long tradition known as Gay Days. The slew of anti-LGBTQ+ laws that Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida lawmakers have championed are not stopping organizers from encouraging visitors from around the world to come to Orlando. They say a large turnout will send a message that LGBTQ+ people aren’t going away in Florida.
June 1, 2023 5:03 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — There are media reports that Justice Department prosecutors have obtained an audio recording of former President Donald Trump from after he left office in which he talks about holding onto a classified document related to a potential attack on Iran. CNN first reported that Trump suggested on the recording that he wanted to share with others information from the document but that he knew there were limitations about his ability to declassify records after he left office. The comments on the recording, made in July 2021 at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, would appear to undercut his repeated claims that he declassified the documents he took with him from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, after leaving office.
June 1, 2023 5:01 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials say the latest pre-dawn Russian missile attack on Kyiv has killed at least three people, including a 9-year-old child and her mother. Ukrainian air defenses shot down all 10 cruise and ballistic missiles launched by the Kremlin’s forces Thursday, but falling debris caused damage and casualties on the ground, wounding 16 people. Russia has kept up a steady barrage of the Ukrainian capital and other parts of the country in recent weeks as Kyiv readies what it says is a counteroffensive to push back Moscow’s troops, 15 months after their full-scale invasion. Kyiv was the target of a reported 17 drone and missile attacks last month.
June 1, 2023 5:00 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — After sailing through the House on a bipartisan vote, the debt ceiling and budget cuts package now goes to the Senate. President Joe Biden negotiated the deal with Speaker Kevin McCarthy to avert a U.S. default crisis. They worked to assemble a coalition of centrist Democrats and Republicans to push it to approval. A similar bipartisan effort will be needed in the Senate to overcome opposition. The U.S. was facing a potentially disastrous default in less than a week if Congress failed to act. Despite deep disappointment from hard-right Republicans that budget cuts don’t go far enough, it was approved on a bipartisan House vote with Democrats. The Senate is expected to act quickly by the end of the week.
June 1, 2023 4:55 am
CECIL TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – A townhome in Cecil Township, Washington County erupted in flames just before 4:00 Wednesday afternoon along Old Farm Road in the Georgetown Estates development. The fire started in a garage and quickly spread to homes on either side, said Cecil Township Fire Chief Noel McMullen. According to McMullen, six townhomes suffered damage. Four are destroyed. But the outcome could have been much worse if it hadn’t been for neighbor Ed Kramer. He jumped into action from a few blocks away and helped rescue multiple people, including a hearing-impaired elderly woman. As his firefighters worked for multiple hours, McMullen noted the temperature posed an additional challenge. “The heat did play a role,” McMullen said. “I don’t know what the temperature is, but our firefighters were overcome fairly quick just from the heat today.” The cause of this fire is still under investigation by the State Police Fire Marshal.
June 1, 2023 4:51 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Testimony has resumed in the trial of a suburban truck driver charged with carrying out the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. Carol Black told a federal jury in Pittsburgh on Wednesday about how she and her fellow New Light congregants, including her 65-year-old brother, Richard Gottfried, heard loud noises as they started Sabbath services in the basement of the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018. She says they quickly realized it was gunfire and that some of them hid. Black says she watched as the gunman killed an 87-year-old member of her congregation. She found out later that her brother was among the 11 people killed that day. Robert Bowers could get the death penalty if convicted.
